Suze Orman: Follow Her Example, NOT Her Advice

Financial pundits and corporations dole out much advice about wealth building. However, the best advice can be obtained from following the examples of these institutions and guru’s rather than heeding their words. Banks advise their customers to save in CDs and savings accounts, even though the interest rates are next to nothing– average 5-year cd according to

Lifestyle Inflation: The Spending Trend

"A luxury once enjoyed becomes a necessity." - C. Northcote Parkinson As we grow older, what we want becomes more sophisticated and we need bigger budgets to keep up. It would never occur to us to take a weekend trip or go anywhere really, without our smartphone, e-reader, tablet, fitbit, or external battery. What is lifestyle

A Rigged Stock Market: The Fed, Debt, & Buybacks | Part 1

“These markets are all rigged, and I don’t say that critically. I just say that factually.” ~ Ed Yardeni, President of Yardeni Research, Inc. We start off with an introduction to the matter at hand by Dr. Robert P. Murphy an Associated Scholar with the Mises Institute, in his article The Fed Can’t Save Us he

The Power of Having Access to Cash

“There are three steps in the revelation of any truth: in the first it is ridiculed; in the second resisted; in the third, it is considered self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer, German Philosopher Do you have access to your money on demand? Or are you locking up your assets? The answer may be influencing your wealth

Speculating with Your Savings? Annnnnd It’s Gone

Funny and true. Unfortunately most of the current employer sponsored retirement plans are "defined contribution plans" like a 401(k) instead of "defined benefit plans". With a defined contribution plan YOU, the plan participant rather than your employer BEARS ALL THE INVESTMENT RISK; along with NO GUARANTEE of a monthly income stream when you retire. And

CEO Paydays Hit Pre-Crisis Peaks

As stated by Alan Johnson managing director of industry compensation consultancy firm Johnson Associates, "Asset managers have recovered faster than the investment banks since the crisis, and their compensation is beginning to catch up to the bank's for the first time." The investment banks on Wall Street are also recording their highest profits in company

The Consumer Price Index & The Truth About Inflation

“By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.” – John Maynard Keynes Regardless if we’re rich or poor, thrifty or wasteful, inflation is as inevitable as death or taxes. But how high IS the cost of living ? Is the Consumer Price

How to Save Money

“As important as I think (saving) is, national savings has always been relegated to the B list of economic measures.” – Edward M. Gramlich, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve from 1997-2005 Believe it or not, there was a time not long ago when Americans tracked their savings rather than their credit card

7 Principles of Prosperity

What is Prosperity Economics? The ideas and practices of Prosperity Economics are not new - the wealthy have been practicing them for generations. It doesn’t aim to help people succeed better at flawed strategies; rather, it offers a total paradigm shift about wealth-building. It questions the financial assumptions we’ve come to accept as true and provides an alternative

Which Rate of Return Have You Been Shown?

Within the investment industry such as mutual funds, indices, ETFs, individual stocks, variable annuities, REITs, variable universal life insurance, and other products tied to the stock market, the industry as a whole advertises using the average rate of return. “Why is this a problem?” The average return or arithmetic mean is a simple calculation. If you don’t